#1 in Top 20 Santorini for a Honeymoon · Leading Hotels · ★★★★★
Katikies Santorini
Oia's original cliffside infinity pool, the honeymoon shot every other Santorini hotel has spent thirty years imitating.
Oia's original cliffside infinity pool, the honeymoon shot every other Santorini hotel has spent thirty years imitating.
"The hotel that taught the world what a Santorini honeymoon is supposed to look like, and still lives up to the photograph."
| Criterion | Score |
|---|---|
| Romance | 9.9 |
| Service | 9.8 |
| Location | 9.9 |
| Design | 9.7 |
| Dining | 9.6 |
| Value | 9.0 |
| Aggregate | 9.8 |
Scored on our six-criterion framework, weighted for a honeymoon. See how we score.
Book it because Katikies is the hotel that defined the Santorini honeymoon and still delivers on it. The original cliffside infinity pool, the one that appears to spill over the edge into the caldera, sits on its main terrace, and it is the shot that most Oia hotels have spent the last thirty years trying to recreate. The property grew from a cluster of restored cliffside captains' houses and cave dwellings on the Oia caldera and has been a Santorini benchmark since the late 1990s, now flying the flag of the Leading Hotels of the World.
The reasons it stays at the top of our list are specific. All 34 rooms and suites face the caldera, so there is no bad-view category, and the hotel spreads its infinity pools across three levels of the cliff, the main one heated. The higher suites add private plunge pools cut into the rock, the caviar-and-champagne bar and cliff-edge dining fill the evenings, and the service operates at the standard the setting implies. Smaller hotels along the same cliff now match the view for less, but none of them carry the institutional memory that Katikies does.
Request a suite with a private plunge pool set directly above the caldera for the classic Oia view and the most privacy. Katikies carves its rooms into the cliff, so the entry categories are gorgeous but compact and caldera-facing, while the higher Honeymoon and Royal-tier suites add the private plunge pools and terraces that make the honeymoon photograph. On a honeymoon those upper suites are the ones worth paying up for, and they sell out first.
Whatever category you choose, tell the hotel it is a honeymoon when you book. That is what unlocks the quiet extras: the best view orientation, a turndown set for two and the concierge time to plan a private dinner. Because the property steps down the cliff, ask about how many stairs sit between your suite and the main pool and restaurant, so the room matches how much climbing you want to do each day.
Reserve a cliff-edge dinner table for one night and a private in-suite dinner for another, so the honeymoon is not spent chasing the same crowded sunset every evening. For the famous infinity-pool photograph, aim for around 6pm, roughly twenty minutes before the sunset crowd builds, and ask the staff to keep the pool deck clear for a few minutes while you take it.
The view is the whole point, and Katikies puts it everywhere. The hotel steps down the side of the caldera with infinity pools on three levels, the main pool heated and the others fresh water, so you are never far from an edge that looks straight out over the Aegean to the volcano. This layout, rather than a single pool bolted onto a flat site, is why the property still feels more dramatic than many newer neighbours.
For a honeymoon the private plunge pools in the upper suites are the real luxury: a small pool on your own terrace, above the caldera, where you can have the view to yourselves at any hour instead of sharing the main deck at sunset. Between the three public pools and the private ones, Katikies gives you a choice of where to watch the light change, which matters in Oia, where the public sunset spots are famously packed.
Dining centres on Botrini's Santorini, the hotel's restaurant led by the Greek-Italian chef Ettore Botrini, whose flagship restaurant holds a Michelin star. The cooking is contemporary Mediterranean built on strong Greek ingredients, and the setting, tables set along the cliff edge with the caldera below, is as much of the experience as the food. It is the room to book for the honeymoon's main dinner, and the reason you do not need to leave the hotel for a serious meal.
Beyond the restaurant, Katikies runs a champagne and cocktail bar built for the sunset hour, the kind of place to mark an anniversary of the wedding with a glass in hand and the volcano turning pink. Two small spa treatment rooms handle couples' massages if you want to fold a treatment into the stay. The hotel is compact by design, so the emphasis is on a few things done to a very high standard rather than a broad resort menu of outlets.
The honest cons start with the stairs. Katikies is built into a cliff, so a stay involves steps, bridges and level changes between the suites, the pools and the restaurant, which is part of the romance but a real problem for anyone with limited mobility. If steps are an issue, ask specifically about the flattest room-to-pool route before booking, or consider a hotel on an easier site.
Second is Oia itself: the village is one of the most crowded sunset spots in the Mediterranean in summer, and the lanes right outside the hotel fill with day-trippers in the late afternoon. Third is value. Rates sit at the very top of the Santorini market, the rooms are compact because they are carved into the rock, and smaller hotels a few doors along the same cliff now offer a near-identical caldera view for less. You are paying for the original, the service and the name as much as the view, so book Katikies if that pedigree matters to you, and look next door if it does not.
Along the same Oia cliff, the differences come down to scale, privacy and price. Use the table to place Katikies against two strong alternatives on our Santorini list.
| Hotel | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Katikies Santorini | The original infinity-pool caldera icon with three pools and Botrini's dining | Top-of-market price; many steps; compact rooms and crowded Oia lanes |
| Canaves Oia Suites | A polished Oia cliff stay with a strong spa and slightly larger suites | Less of the singular original-pool pedigree; still a steep site |
| Perivolas Hotel | A calmer, more minimalist cave-house feel with a famous edge pool | Fewer outlets and a quieter scene; a taxi from central Oia |
If you want the icon and the original pool, Katikies is the pick. If you want a larger suite and a bigger spa, Canaves Oia Suites is the rival; if you want a quieter, more pared-back cave-house stay, Perivolas Hotel is the alternative.
Yes, it is the benchmark Oia honeymoon hotel. Katikies built the original cliffside infinity pool, all 34 rooms and suites face the caldera, and the higher suites add private plunge pools. It is adults-focused and cliff-hugging, so it suits couples who want the classic caldera view over a big-resort footprint.
Book a suite with a private plunge pool directly above the caldera for the signature view and the most privacy. The entry rooms are caldera-facing but compact, so the plunge-pool suites are the ones worth paying up for, and they sell out first in summer.
Katikies Santorini welcomes guests aged 13 and over, and directs families with younger children to its sister property, Katikies Garden in Fira. The cliffside layout with steps and level changes is part of why the flagship is aimed at couples.
Rates generally start around 1,400 euros per night and rise steeply for the plunge-pool suites, with peak demand from May to September. Confirm live rates for your exact dates.
There are many steps and level changes, Oia is very crowded at sunset, rates are top-of-market and the rooms are compact because they are carved into the cliff. Smaller hotels along the same cliff match the view for less, so you are paying for the original and the service.
Off peak pricing, suite upgrades, and subscriber only offers, flagged only when the value is real.